Plympton Pathfields, The Latest News Plympton Pathfields, The Latest News
5. January 2001 - Site meeting with Conservation Officer
Part of the planning agreement to allow housing development on the Pathfields was the handing over of seven acres of former pasture land to the city. This legally binding agreement (Section 106 Agreement) will mean that for the first time in hundreds of years, the public will be allowed access to enjoy a larger section of the Pathfields below Lime Tree Walk.
The Pathfields Group did not agree to this trade off to secure the building of a housing estate, but have welcomed the commitment by the city council to allow the public access to this land once it came under their care. In August 2000, members of the Pathfields Group had an initial site meeting with Plymouth's Conservation Officer, Andy Stevens, and discussed the future of this section of land and how it ought to be managed. A further site meeting was held on 18th January 2001 attended by council officials including Andy Stevens, members of the Pathfields Group and representatives of Plympton St. Maurice Civic Association, Janet Skinner and Freddie Mills.
The Pathfields Group were keen to set up a management plan for the land, probably along the lines of the existing public access area of the Pathfields above Lime Tree Walk. The land would require a minimum of maintenance and intervention and certain tasks were identified in order to maintain the character and appearance of the land in keeping with the rest of the Pathfields and perhaps to echo its previous existence as a historic landscaped park. Carefully designed to reflect a microcosm of the rural landscape with grassland, trees, copses and lakes, these 'parks' were a common addition to many historic manor houses and more familiar 'stately homes' today. During the site visit, the Pathfields Group were excited to discover that the apparent hedge separating the two fields is in fact an original stone Devon hedge bank, one of the last to survive in the area, which has become overgrown.
A spring that flows through the fields towards the development site must have once had an engineered opening to allow it to pass through both fields. Now, that opening is blocked and the water 'pools' on the east side of the hedge. The Pathfields Group would like to see this feature reinstated and cleared to allow the free passage of the spring stream. The Time Team identified this spring as feeding a 'carp lake' created in the lower field. Beazer Homes have agreed to reintroduce the original course of the Long Brook allowing the spring stream to reunite with the old course of the Long Brook as a natural open feature.
Initial proposals for the land included
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |